Ridiculous Baseball News

Isn’t this the time of year that baseball news is supposed to revolve around pennant and wild card races? Isn’t this the time of year that the big guns come out to pitch to keep playoff hopes alive? Isn’t this the time of year when it’s the last big push to prevent early vacation?\nBeing the anti-baseball liaison, I usually ignore these news stories, but I still expect to hear them. This is why I am so surprised that the biggest baseball news stories are not revolving around teams and races, but rather around an individual player, a general manager and a baseball.\nThe biggest news stories right now are Barry Bonds’ record-setting home-run ball and Milton Bradley’s anterior cruciate ligament. \nBradley, the San Diego Padre known for his bad temper, was arguing with an umpire when his manager Bud Black spun him around – in an attempt to stop the scuffle – resulting in Bradley tearing his ACL. \nBradley’s story is ridiculous. It makes the common conditioning routine, which consists of two laps around the field, look like a huge joke. This story demonstrates one main reason why I’m not a baseball fan: It makes baseball players look weak and pathetic.\nThe aftermath of this episode was just as bad. The umpire has been suspended for the rest of the season, and Bradley won’t shut his mouth about the whole incident.\nWait. The ump was suspended for the season? Did Bud Selig call David Stern for advice? This seems very similar to the altercation at last year’s NBA playoffs between Spurs forward Tim Duncan and referee Joey Crawford. Just think what would have happened if Duncan had torn his ACL because Spurs coach Gregg Popovich took him down. Can you say Suns championship?\nBut enough about Bradley’s ACL. What about Bonds’ ball?\nFor those of you who don’t know, Bond’s record-breaking 756th home-run ball was sold to fashion designer Marc Ecko for a measly $752,467. Instead of doing the admirable thing and either giving the ball to Bonds or giving it directly to the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum, he decided to let the public choose. \nThe options were to send the ball to Cooperstown, to send it branded with an asterisk or to blast it into space. \nI think it’s great to let the public choose what to do with the ball, but this system is extremely flawed. The people who have the time to sit and vote multiple times a day and care enough to vote are the people who hate Bonds and want the ball branded. The people who have lives, who treasure the fact that this ball is a major part of baseball history and want it to go to the Hall of Fame unblemished, don’t have time to sit around all day and vote for the reasonable option. \nWhether or not Bonds cheated is irrelevant. The ball is a part of baseball history and should be kept in the Hall of Fame unmarked. This act of branding it is childish and a disgrace to the game and to Bonds.\nI truly feel bad that his record-setting ball is getting destroyed because the average idiot thought it would be funny. Bonds may be a jackass, but he doesn’t deserve this.\nOf course, he can always look on the bright side – at least he has two functioning ACLs.